Friday, January 30, 2009

In 1978, Remco, a division of Azrak Hamway International,figured out a way to get in on the Superhero action figure business long held onto by their rivals at Mego.

Energized Spiderman was more statue than action figure (most likely due to licensing restrictions) but he was a giant hit in 1978 and the line was greatly expanded in the following year..

The rest of the line up was strongly superhero based, even Micky Mouse looks like he can some ass, the sole girl's offering this year is also a person with powers.click on the images for pages with descriptions:

Thursday, January 29, 2009

1976 saw the arrival of "The Peacock" a man whose super powers were derived from his own high self esteem, sadly his book fell victim to the DC implosion in the late 70s. The character resurfaced in the mid eighties as "The Cosby Sweater" but only managed a few appearances as a back up feature in Aquaman before being killed during the Crisis. Rumour has it that Grant Morrison is looking to revive the character...

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

I did a little mini freak out when I discovered these Fleetwood "BJ and the Bear" toys in their 1980 catalog, I rarely missed the adventures of B.J. McKay and his monkey life partner. I was also fanatically loyal to Sherrif Lobo during his short run.

The last time I saw this series was on business in Germany, you truly haven't lived until you see this series in German at 4 am...

Monday, January 26, 2009

The generation gap, comedy/drama cop series "Jumpsuit & Hoody" ran for two seasons on the ABC network, it was eventually replaced in 1981 by a new law enforcement show entitled "Leg Warmers and Parachute Pants on patrol"

Friday, January 23, 2009

My toy buying ended in the early 80s (until I discovered flea markets) but I still used to keep an eye what was coming out. That's why I loved finding this news paper circular from Simpsons, a now long gone Canadian department store chain.

All the big names of the time are here Smurfs, He Man, G.I. Joe, Barbie in very well laid out pages that would still have kids drooling to this day. It's a great time warp back to the land of leg warmers and break dancing.Check out the 1983 Simpsons Toy Catalog Here

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The 1977 notion that young men would enjoy wearing unsold Maternity tops from the previous year unfortunately fell flat. Personally, I could use some along a few of those pants with the spandex fronts....

Monday, January 19, 2009

It's been a while since we honoured Hasbro's Bulletman, that great attempt to make G.I. Joe a little more superheroic that sadly failed. The big B is often maligned unfairly by Joe collectors, particularly the military ones but for many of us 70s kids, he was an incredibly fun toy.

Friday, January 16, 2009

The 1977 ABC TV series made the then fifty year old characters of Joe and Frank Hardy into super styling studs of the late seventies. These teen heart throbs didn't go unnoticed by the good people at Kenner (seeing as they had more than their fair share of success with another ABC series) and in 1978, these two action figures appeared.

Shaun Cassidy comes with a guitar, woooo!

Parker Stevenson gets a radio backpack, which is neat but not as cool as a guitar.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I'm working on another update for the Gallery of Rack Toys when I saw something I'd never seen before. Fleetwood Toys had the Marvel License so they coyly repackaged some army men with the Sgt. Fury brand. Sarge doesn't get enough merchandise so I'm especially smitten with this discovery.